The Philley was always trying to break free especially along Newport Road. I had to wear wellies so that I could get to Newport school. Back in the 1950’s
Hi John. I was born and lived in Leytonstone and Leyton from 1941 till the 1960,s. I went to Newport Primary School and then Mayville Primary School until I went to Raines Foundation School in Stepney Green ( still living in E.11).After getting married I moved to Vicarage Road in Leyton and then to the tower blocks newly built in Oliver Close (by the Leyton Orient F.C. Ground). From here I moved to Highams Park and am still there. I cannot believe how Leyton and Leytonstone have changed. Although the roads and streets names are easily known by me they are almost unrecognisable. In fact I got little pangs of excitement everytime I did recognise something or some place.Thank you for these memories of my past John your videos are well made and your dialogue is brilliant.
I was born in Leytonstone, as were my grandparents. My great granny came to London from France, and made lace to earn a living; she sold the lace door to door and her best sales were to Ladies living on Fillebrook Road.
Thank you very much John for discovering the history of Leytonstone, the area where I lived about 20 years ago. And the walk along the river I never knew existed. Warmest Regards from Ukraine. Keep doing what you do (amazing videos).
Sublime, as always John. Brings back memories of living in Leyton fifteen years ago reading Sinclair, Self and Ackroyd and wandering those streets divining that very river. Yet again although we have never met, our footprints lie in unison. can't wait for the next one.
Christened in Fillebrook Church (now the Leytonstone United Free Church I see, courtesy of Google Street) so long ago. Many years of roaming the area you walked, but when young nobody cares about the history. Very enlightening and a pleasure to watch the video.
Ah, the zigging & zagging of hidden river walking, up & down residential roads looking for clues and glimpses... Reminds me very much of when I lived on the 'Harringay Ladder' and first encountered the New River. Oddly, every place I ever lived in London was on the New River - Harringay Town, Wood Green, Bounds Green, Bowes Park... I've now walked the NR right from the Sadlers Wells through to a delightful little pub in Enfield village reached via a footbridge.
So relaxing... Lovely walk and sublime soundtrack. I used to live in colworth Road, blissfully unaware of the babbling Brook beneath. Thank you John once again.
I am a northerner and love all these walks most of which I had been thinking I have been nowhere near in person. But then I realise I have because I have visited London several times (although I do appreciate is a massive place including the outskirts). There is something I can't quite figure which draws me to Leytonstone though, probably historical, maybe past lives. I got goosebumps when you mentioned the Templars. I also got a bit of a flashback at the end there where your enthusiasm reminds me a little of David Bellamy. All these underground rivers - incredible. Great stuff!
Thanks John again for a terrific and informative walk and I look forward to your other 4 walks.I appreciate all your efforts in producing a wonderful video
Many thanks John for your walk/video of this ancient, now hidden Philleybrook River. I have lived in Walthamstow and am now in Leytonstone, never knew this river existed. So sad that urban sprawl didn’t include the keeping open of the Philleybrook River. So much history has been lost all across the U.K. due to urbanisation and the incessant need for yet more and more roads/housing ... I’ve only just come across your channel, will be looking at your other walks, I love history and how places once were before the human population exploded ☹️🙄
Probably one of the few who can entertain you on a subject that you hardly ever see - almost inspires me to head south and take a look for myself, brilliant work, thanks.
Hi John. Fascinating walk as always. Even though I spent about five years at the beginning of the 80's bombing around Leytonstone and Leyton fixing phones from a little Yellow BT van the walk uncovered places I had never knew existed. Sidmouth Park was one, tucked away behind the houses, and the little alleyways linking the roads that you only see when on foot. I remember there used to be a dual carriageway road underpass below the railway from what is now Dyers Hall playground to Church Lane that used to flood. I wonder if that was water from the Fillibrook?. Best, Richard
Thanks Richard - and also for your wonderful photo. When I did the research for the walk back in 2009 I heard about flooding around that area and further up towards the High Road, I can only assume that was cause by springs in the area and water running down off the higher ground - there's similar reports around Wanstead Flats. The old OS maps show numerous ponds and springs in Leytonstone near the brook and around the Flats and also lots of drainage channels cut heading towards the Fillebrook. But you wonder if there were other tributaries
Another well made film. Thank you! By the way, back in the 1970s/80s there was a really nice Met Police Beat Bobbie who used to patrol around all those streets on foot and on his push bike. PC John Taylor was his name. He was such a nice man. *We need his sort of calibre walking the beat nowadays, what with all the crime going on! 👮🚲
I had to reply to this! Thank you Rottie for remembering PC John Taylor! I used to live in the house opposite his house on the corner of Poppleton Road. I was there from 1975 to 1988(?) I used to know this part of Leytonstone like the back of my hand. I used to walk to Norlington Road up Fillebrook Road and back again, then years later the other way on Peterborough Road to get to Leyton Senior High! @JohnRogers, I really enjoy watching your videos and I am still fortunate enough not to live far from Leytonstone to visit Hollow Ponds occassionally but these roads have certainly changed. Who remembers the Christian Library on Whipps Cross Road? That is now the temple
@@sanjilford803 Thank you for your reply Sanj. I sadly heard from someone midway through last year, that PC John Taylor had passed away the year previously. He possibly died up in Lincolnshire, where he went to enjoy his retirement. He was such a splendid and kind family man. Best wishes to you.
@@BritishBoy1971 Hello Rottie, thank you for taking the time to reply. Unfortunately, I think I heard the same, PC John (RIP) was a very nice man. He also visited the schools in the area and conducted visits around the police station on Francis Road for visiting groups. He actually used me as a guinea pig to show everyone how to hold someone's arm behind them whilst arresting them, purely because I had a Leyton Orient scarf on! warmest regards to you, Sanj
@@sanjilford803 That was so nice to read. Thank you. I imagined you being restrained with your Orient scarf on! lol. My dad said that John attended many match days at Leyton Orient, to control the crowd. A great day out that would be on a Saturday, a sort of busman's holiday. Thank you again, have a great week ahead! 🙂👍
No ! Thank You John Rogers. I enjoyed every footstep, each utterance and sharing of this knowledge. A wee saunter lived vicariously, for sure. Greetings to you from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Great video John am really enjoying your lost rivers series, looking forwards to your next one in the guided walks series,catch you later my friend .....
What a really interesting walk, thanks for sharing it with us John, your walks are always greatly appreciated & really enjoyed even from afar here in rural South Australia!!
That was great. I get a clear feeling of the area. I only know the Barking area of your east London area. But I really get a great understanding of the underlying physical, social and cultural geography from your walks. I take an early evening walk from Southwold pier to Gun Hill regularly, and at your inspiration, think about the Battle of Sole Bay. You’re an inspiration!
Thank you SO much for producing this. What a beautiful video. We live on Newport Road and hear the brook gushing beneath a manhole cover. I knew there was a brook running through the area but until now assumed that the gushing was just... neighbourhood sewerage. I'll think differently for evermore when I walk by there.
Wow! This was a particularly magical one. The glimpse of the stream at the end was such a lovely surprise: a religious vision at the end of a pilgrimage. Thanks John.
I hope you are OK, really missing your videos massively, take care if you don't come back soon I'll have to start again at the beginning and watch them all again....all the best John....
Hi John really enjoy all your walks. Grew up in Woodford so the areas you go really interesting. Your walk 4 years ago to W G C finishes showing the old Shredded Wheat factory now gone and by the station trucks loading where I sometimes go as a hgv driver 😀 👍👍
I lived in Leyspring Road off Bushwood and the house on the corner of Woodville and Leyspring road there was trap door in the basement with the leyspring gushing thru ..
I live just off James Lane and notice the dips in Fairlop, Kings and Queens Rd and now realise thanks to your video it is the route of the stream, I have since found an old photo of the ' the old phille brook' in my book of Leyton and Leytonstone photos, it shows the tree lined stream crossing a field where now Kings and Queens Rd is now. I was at St Andrews recently and people there tell me that they have problems with subsidence, I wonder if it is due to the stream running below? interesting walk again John.
thanks for your comment Colin - I'll have to check my books of Leytonstone now as I haven't seen any photos of the brook before. Yes I believe that is the brook running beneath St. Andrews and causing problems with the newbuild flats next door. The first time I did this walk we went in the Church and they predicted this would be a problem. I think the residents have been investigating.
Excellent vid. No connection at all to this part of the country, but just love your passion and interest in this area. Re this vid, fascinated at peeling back the urban landscape to glimpse what was.
Interesting walk, thank you, John. I was happy to see the river eventually peeking out at us - I was getting claustrophobic on its behalf. I wonder how big the culverts/tunnels keeping it confined are. Would a diver be able to swim through parts of it, for example? But I suppose if it is a brook, it would mostly be narrowish pipes? Also interesting to note the Pretoria Road and Pretoria House - goodness, who knew that the city where I was born and bred would appear in a Lost Byways video ...
Interesting. Only discovered your Channel last year. Interesting to track a hidden river. I’m just about to start filming along a local Suffolk river, thankfully mostly still open though inaccessible in parts. Only really passed through Leytonstone on the tube (?) I think. Love your commentary along your walks too. 👍
Thank you, a fascinating walk and lovely addendum to our own walk there in April this past year, when we walked from a certain blue plaque down to Hollow Pond and had the most wonderful day.
I had no idea Leytonstone had an artists' colony! And I wonder if Lytton Road and Bulwer Road had anything to do with the writer Lord Lytton of whom I'm a great fan incidentally. My uncle Arthur lived in Leytonstone all his life until he retired and then moved to Lytton Fields in Knebworth which has a more obvious connection with him. And I lived in Pretoria, South Africa for three years. Small world! Wonderful walk as ever! Many thanks!
Funny you should say that Douglas because I was desperate for that connection also but it was actually named after a Lytton Bulwer - that didn't stop me telling the Vril story on the guided walk though
@@JohnRogersWalks Would that be the connection with Bovril? Nobody believes me when I tell them that. I have two first edition copies of 'The Coming Race' - one I bought in Tunbridge Wells and was quite expensive, the other in Antalya, Turkey of all places which cost next to nothing! Fascinating book - and totally different from his earlier historical romances.
Im pretty sure the fillebrook splits in two with one going under Sidmouth Park and the other under Huxley Road and it seems to join together again maybe. I lived on Huxley rd for 15 years and clearly remember when one of those round metal drainage covers gave way under wheel of a garbage truck which got stuck into the night. A stream was visible under the rd throughout the repair works
that's intriguing Umar and highly possible. I've heard that there were two more rivers roughly to the north of Leyton Orient so perhaps it's one of those
Hi John , may I comment that I grew up in Claremont road Leyton in the 70’s , my mum and three generations did also , there was a lady who lived in Claremont road at the time , who told my mum that before the railway ran alongside claremont road , she remembered as a young child there being a brook running there . Loved the video .
Heathcote and Star should have a blue plaque that you wrote most of your book in there! Interesting video though. Our creeks around here all flow into the Potomac but are not covered by roads or buildings.
I had a mate who lived in Fillerbrook Rd. I remember back in the 90`s standing outside his house watching the fire brigade and the police removing "protesters" who had tied themselves in the tops of trees in order to disrupt the felling required for the new road system. They also took a chunk of his back garden for the same reason,but he was well compensated.
The theory of not building over subterranean rivers makes perfect sense. Im a Building Surveyor and know from experience of the hazards of building on running water. It could be done with expensive piling so I guess not viable for housing, hence leaving them as roads. Oh and BTW Up the O's!
Good Afternoon John. What a wonderful & informative east London walk. I really enjoyed it thank you. I really like Russell Frost hooksmith press, l don't know why🤗😉💜
Lived in Waltham Forest all my life and never realised that I was walking over this history regularly! Great video, Thank you for sharing. How could I join in on the walks?
thanks Kyber - unfornately the programme is finished now but I'll most likely continue next year or even add some outside the borough in November and December
On Chelmsford road John, the river runs along the next alley way, not the one you pointed out, I know because you're not allowed to build on that land due to the river passing through..at night, when all is silent, you hear nothing but a sound of a stream running, nonetheless, twas a great video.
Lived in Queens road. We all had cellars, and our friends who lived up the end used to get their cellar flooded out often. I always wondered as a child why ours didn’t flood. Now I know ! I’m getting so nostalgic for Leytonstone with your walks. Lived there from 1951 to 1975
Just a thought John,I was watching Jules Guides on You Tube and he was saying that Serpentine was originally part of the Westbourne River which joins the Thames at Pimlico, have you walked the Westbourne River yet ??? All the best loving your new videos mate......cheers
I lived Leyspring Road and yes there was Ley Spring came culverted under house and it was mentioned by solicitor in 60s search. And later lived in east ham stevenage Road near the Roding Pub and when someone requested a huge tree be removed and surveyor and arborist came to review and pointed out that the tree drew thousand of gallons out of the ground which was riverbed gravel and was very productive water cress beds cos river was very clean at this point and If this tree was removed we would all suffer rising damp as our little terraced house from 1908 had only rudimentary damp course as cheep jerry built houses when built. So tree was not removed fortunately.
Excellent film John. I'm living vicariously from the other side of the planet ..I've sent an email off to Hooksmith to procure a set of the maps. Regards, Boyd
I remember reading how water from what is now wanstead flats made its way to wanstead park and works but the flows Have you visted the little round stone edged pond behind snaresbrook court ?
When I was younger I accidentally ended up on the lowest floor of Leytonstone Library and remember seeing a stream flowing there. Are you aware of this and does this link to the Fillebrook? If you go into the basement of the library im sure you'll find it. That building has so many rooms above also.
Following you on Google maps like I always do, I see at the end of the walk, the brook ends up in the water works, but on the opposite (north western) side of the water works is that where the Dagenham Brook starts?
I think Steve that they join somewhere underground where that bit of rough ground is on the roundabout - you can see it at the start of the Dagenham Brook video
@@JohnRogersWalks earlier last month we had a new water meter installed, the chap used a long metal tube with a listening device attached to the top so he could find the water pipe buried in the driveway, I had a listen as well, you could hear the water running clearly after you turned the outside tap on, I was well impressed_
How tragic, and perhaps foolish, was this destruction of a major world artists center! And how powerless artists/and the rest of us seem to be against someone's economic progress! (My mother did warn me not to go into the arts.) What demolishment do you see is next for London's nearest future?
Here's a full playlist of all five Waltham Forest psychogeographer in residence walks ua-cam.com/play/PLHD6uTQLDf_NVcNgQzVOCUK9QYmmcDMnA.html
The Philley was always trying to break free especially along Newport Road. I had to wear wellies so that I could get to Newport school. Back in the 1950’s
thanks for that Steve - love hearing stories like this
Hi John. I was born and lived in Leytonstone and Leyton from 1941 till the 1960,s. I went to Newport Primary School and then Mayville Primary School until I went to Raines Foundation School in Stepney Green ( still living in E.11).After getting married I moved to Vicarage Road in Leyton and then to the tower blocks newly built in Oliver Close (by the Leyton Orient F.C. Ground). From here I moved to Highams Park and am still there. I cannot believe how Leyton and Leytonstone have changed. Although the roads and streets names are easily known by me they are almost unrecognisable. In fact I got little pangs of excitement everytime I did recognise something or some place.Thank you for these memories of my past John your videos are well made and your dialogue is brilliant.
cheers Bob
I was born in Leytonstone, as were my grandparents. My great granny came to London from France, and made lace to earn a living; she sold the lace door to door and her best sales were to Ladies living on Fillebrook Road.
What an absolute masterpiece of a video, so passionate about the history of our borough! Thank you John
Thanks very much Resh
Thank you very much John for discovering the history of Leytonstone, the area where I lived about 20 years ago. And the walk along the river I never knew existed.
Warmest Regards from Ukraine. Keep doing what you do (amazing videos).
thanks very much mykolakanyuk - love the idea of the videos being watched in Ukraine
Sublime, as always John. Brings back memories of living in Leyton fifteen years ago reading Sinclair, Self and Ackroyd and wandering those streets divining that very river. Yet again although we have never met, our footprints lie in unison. can't wait for the next one.
thanks so much Keith and for painting that evovative image of your Leyton years
Just wonderful John! Another enjoyable walk with you...great choice in music. Thank you...take care!
thanks very K
I have just watched this video with great interest. I lived in Letonstone from 1947 - 1960 and went to Fillebrook Methodist Church. Thank you
Christened in Fillebrook Church (now the Leytonstone United Free Church I see, courtesy of Google Street) so long ago. Many years of roaming the area you walked, but when young nobody cares about the history. Very enlightening and a pleasure to watch the video.
thanks Roger
What an amazing video....... Absolutely fantastic. Thank you.
thanks Daz io
What a super little film. Thank you John. I used to live in Leytonstone, and had my tonsils out at Whips Cross Hospital.
Ah, the zigging & zagging of hidden river walking, up & down residential roads looking for clues and glimpses... Reminds me very much of when I lived on the 'Harringay Ladder' and first encountered the New River. Oddly, every place I ever lived in London was on the New River - Harringay Town, Wood Green, Bounds Green, Bowes Park... I've now walked the NR right from the Sadlers Wells through to a delightful little pub in Enfield village reached via a footbridge.
It's a great little aquaduct Paul - I still have ambitions of attempting to walk it all in one day
Sunday morning and John drops a video - I'll enjoy this this evening :-)
Same for me.
Hope you enjoy it Mouxbar
So relaxing... Lovely walk and sublime soundtrack. I used to live in colworth Road, blissfully unaware of the babbling Brook beneath. Thank you John once again.
Thanks Tim, glad you enjoyed the video
I love your lost river walks.
thanks Mary - me too - more to come
I am a northerner and love all these walks most of which I had been thinking I have been nowhere near in person. But then I realise I have because I have visited London several times (although I do appreciate is a massive place including the outskirts). There is something I can't quite figure which draws me to Leytonstone though, probably historical, maybe past lives. I got goosebumps when you mentioned the Templars. I also got a bit of a flashback at the end there where your enthusiasm reminds me a little of David Bellamy. All these underground rivers - incredible. Great stuff!
Thanks John again for a terrific and informative walk and I look forward to your other 4 walks.I appreciate all your efforts in producing a wonderful video
thanks as ever Humble - appreciate your continued support
Many thanks John for your walk/video of this ancient, now hidden Philleybrook River. I have lived in Walthamstow and am now in Leytonstone, never knew this river existed. So sad that urban sprawl didn’t include the keeping open of the Philleybrook River. So much history has been lost all across the U.K. due to urbanisation and the incessant need for yet more and more roads/housing ... I’ve only just come across your channel, will be looking at your other walks, I love history and how places once were before the human population exploded ☹️🙄
Thanks what a great walk
thanks 4thEye
Probably one of the few who can entertain you on a subject that you hardly ever see - almost inspires me to head south and take a look for myself, brilliant work, thanks.
thanks very much Martin - sometimes I think the hidden nature of these watercourses makes following them all the more rewarding
Hi John. Fascinating walk as always. Even though I spent about five years at the beginning of the 80's bombing around Leytonstone and Leyton fixing phones from a little Yellow BT van the walk uncovered places I had never knew existed. Sidmouth Park was one, tucked away behind the houses, and the little alleyways linking the roads that you only see when on foot. I remember there used to be a dual carriageway road underpass below the railway from what is now Dyers Hall playground to Church Lane that used to flood. I wonder if that was water from the Fillibrook?. Best, Richard
Thanks Richard - and also for your wonderful photo. When I did the research for the walk back in 2009 I heard about flooding around that area and further up towards the High Road, I can only assume that was cause by springs in the area and water running down off the higher ground - there's similar reports around Wanstead Flats. The old OS maps show numerous ponds and springs in Leytonstone near the brook and around the Flats and also lots of drainage channels cut heading towards the Fillebrook. But you wonder if there were other tributaries
THIS IS AMAZING 👏
I grew up in this area and loved walking and discovering the area. This puts an entirely new depth to it. Thank you 🙏🙏🙏
Another well made film. Thank you!
By the way, back in the 1970s/80s there was a really nice Met Police Beat Bobbie who used to patrol around all those streets on foot and on his push bike. PC John Taylor was his name. He was such a nice man.
*We need his sort of calibre walking the beat nowadays, what with all the crime going on! 👮🚲
Thanks so much for that Rottie - you know I think I've heard that Bobbie mentioned before
I had to reply to this! Thank you Rottie for remembering PC John Taylor! I used to live in the house opposite his house on the corner of Poppleton Road. I was there from 1975 to 1988(?) I used to know this part of Leytonstone like the back of my hand. I used to walk to Norlington Road up Fillebrook Road and back again, then years later the other way on Peterborough Road to get to Leyton Senior High! @JohnRogers, I really enjoy watching your videos and I am still fortunate enough not to live far from Leytonstone to visit Hollow Ponds occassionally but these roads have certainly changed. Who remembers the Christian Library on Whipps Cross Road? That is now the temple
@@sanjilford803 Thank you for your reply Sanj. I sadly heard from someone midway through last year, that PC John Taylor had passed away the year previously. He possibly died up in Lincolnshire, where he went to enjoy his retirement.
He was such a splendid and kind family man.
Best wishes to you.
@@BritishBoy1971 Hello Rottie, thank you for taking the time to reply. Unfortunately, I think I heard the same, PC John (RIP) was a very nice man. He also visited the schools in the area and conducted visits around the police station on Francis Road for visiting groups. He actually used me as a guinea pig to show everyone how to hold someone's arm behind them whilst arresting them, purely because I had a Leyton Orient scarf on! warmest regards to you, Sanj
@@sanjilford803 That was so nice to read. Thank you. I imagined you being restrained with your Orient scarf on! lol.
My dad said that John attended many match days at Leyton Orient, to control the crowd. A great day out that would be on a Saturday, a sort of busman's holiday.
Thank you again, have a great week ahead! 🙂👍
I love the idea of bringing the river to life on the walk. What a tre6at the end to see it in person. Thanks John really appreciate the channel.
Thanks Tomas
No ! Thank You John Rogers. I enjoyed every footstep, each utterance and sharing of this knowledge. A wee saunter lived vicariously, for sure. Greetings to you from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Your a wonderful advocate for your area Jon loved this walk x
thanks so much Norma - I do love it
Great video John am really enjoying your lost rivers series, looking forwards to your next one in the guided walks series,catch you later my friend .....
thanks Leslie - two more river walks in this series to come
What a really interesting walk, thanks for sharing it with us John, your walks are always greatly appreciated & really enjoyed even from afar here in rural South Australia!!
Thanks Neil
That was great. I get a clear feeling of the area. I only know the Barking area of your east London area. But I really get a great understanding of the underlying physical, social and cultural geography from your walks. I take an early evening walk from Southwold pier to Gun Hill regularly, and at your inspiration, think about the Battle of Sole Bay. You’re an inspiration!
Thank you SO much for producing this. What a beautiful video. We live on Newport Road and hear the brook gushing beneath a manhole cover. I knew there was a brook running through the area but until now assumed that the gushing was just... neighbourhood sewerage. I'll think differently for evermore when I walk by there.
Wow! This was a particularly magical one. The glimpse of the stream at the end was such a lovely surprise: a religious vision at the end of a pilgrimage. Thanks John.
My pleasure Scott
Nice one John, very informative and pleasant to watch all the best clive .
Thanks Clive
Thanks John, my Sunday evening is complete.
great to hear Little Acorns
I went to Newport and Norlington, never ever heard of the philleybrook or any of the history of Leyton. Crazy to think that there was so much here.
I hope you are OK, really missing your videos massively, take care if you don't come back soon I'll have to start again at the beginning and watch them all again....all the best John....
Thanks Leslie- nearly finished the next one. Been quite busy so haven’t had enough time to edit but I have 3 videos waiting to go up
Wonderful video. So relaxing to watch and so interesting too.
Thank you John, very enlightening. I had no idea that the stream existed.
I love your videos. So interesting, so well filmed. Thank you.
A lot of nineteen sixties' memories for me here, thank you.
my pleasure Jack, glad you enjoyed the video
Thanks John
brought back so many memories of 50 years
my pleasure Dave - thanks for watching
Hi John really enjoy all your walks. Grew up in Woodford so the areas you go really interesting. Your walk 4 years ago to W G C finishes showing the old Shredded Wheat factory now gone and by the station trucks loading where I sometimes go as a hgv driver 😀 👍👍
I lived in Leyspring Road off Bushwood and the house on the corner of Woodville and Leyspring road there was trap door in the basement with the leyspring gushing thru ..
wow Chris - I'm now determined to see it for myself - thanks for the info
I live just off James Lane and notice the dips in Fairlop, Kings and Queens Rd and now realise thanks to your video it is the route of the stream, I have since found an old photo of the ' the old phille brook' in my book of Leyton and Leytonstone photos, it shows the tree lined stream crossing a field where now Kings and Queens Rd is now. I was at St Andrews recently and people there tell me that they have problems with subsidence, I wonder if it is due to the stream running below? interesting walk again John.
thanks for your comment Colin - I'll have to check my books of Leytonstone now as I haven't seen any photos of the brook before. Yes I believe that is the brook running beneath St. Andrews and causing problems with the newbuild flats next door. The first time I did this walk we went in the Church and they predicted this would be a problem. I think the residents have been investigating.
Excellent vid. No connection at all to this part of the country, but just love your passion and interest in this area. Re this vid, fascinated at peeling back the urban landscape to glimpse what was.
thanks Neil - I'm always fascinated by the layers of history beneath our feet
Interesting walk, thank you, John. I was happy to see the river eventually peeking out at us - I was getting claustrophobic on its behalf. I wonder how big the culverts/tunnels keeping it confined are. Would a diver be able to swim through parts of it, for example? But I suppose if it is a brook, it would mostly be narrowish pipes? Also interesting to note the Pretoria Road and Pretoria House - goodness, who knew that the city where I was born and bred would appear in a Lost Byways video ...
Thanks Mariana - I imagine it's not particularly large but I have an article somewhere when they relaid the pipes and mentioned the size
What a great video to start my Sunday with - cheers John!
Many thanks Jko
fascinating stuff, a pleasure to watch and to listen to you
excellent as always sir.
Thanks Mark
Temple Close off Wadley Road used to be a Bonds sweet factory.
I remember the floods down Wadley Road and the works to remedy them.
Brilliant note many thanks
And before that it was Ivanhoes sweet s where my Nan was a Sugar boiler
Now I know why my celler would flood occasionally. I lived at the corner wallwood rd and bulwer rd. Thanks John.
My pleasure Tay - there's no suppressing the river
Really interesting, thanks. I live in Huxley Rd, Leyton and had no idea about the river
Cheers for that really enjoyed the walk John and information, watched a few now, so all i can say is keep on stepping
Cheers Baz
Interesting. Only discovered your Channel last year. Interesting to track a hidden river. I’m just about to start filming along a local Suffolk river, thankfully mostly still open though inaccessible in parts. Only really passed through Leytonstone on the tube (?) I think. Love your commentary along your walks too. 👍
Thank you, a fascinating walk and lovely addendum to our own walk there in April this past year, when we walked from a certain blue plaque down to Hollow Pond and had the most wonderful day.
that sounds like a lovely tribute Pat
John Rogers it was great to discover another beautiful London neighbourhood and we will make more time for East London on our next visit
I had no idea Leytonstone had an artists' colony! And I wonder if Lytton Road and Bulwer Road had anything to do with the writer Lord Lytton of whom I'm a great fan incidentally. My uncle Arthur lived in Leytonstone all his life until he retired and then moved to Lytton Fields in Knebworth which has a more obvious connection with him. And I lived in Pretoria, South Africa for three years. Small world! Wonderful walk as ever! Many thanks!
Funny you should say that Douglas because I was desperate for that connection also but it was actually named after a Lytton Bulwer - that didn't stop me telling the Vril story on the guided walk though
@@JohnRogersWalks Would that be the connection with Bovril? Nobody believes me when I tell them that. I have two first edition copies of 'The Coming Race' - one I bought in Tunbridge Wells and was quite expensive, the other in Antalya, Turkey of all places which cost next to nothing! Fascinating book - and totally different from his earlier historical romances.
Im pretty sure the fillebrook splits in two with one going under Sidmouth Park and the other under Huxley Road and it seems to join together again maybe.
I lived on Huxley rd for 15 years and clearly remember when one of those round metal drainage covers gave way under wheel of a garbage truck which got stuck into the night.
A stream was visible under the rd throughout the repair works
that's intriguing Umar and highly possible. I've heard that there were two more rivers roughly to the north of Leyton Orient so perhaps it's one of those
Hi John , may I comment that I grew up in Claremont road Leyton in the 70’s , my mum and three generations did also , there was a lady who lived in Claremont road at the time , who told my mum that before the railway ran alongside claremont road , she remembered as a young child there being a brook running there . Loved the video .
Many thanks for that info - it's interesting to hear of other watercourses in the area - apparently people have said there was another in Cann Hall
Bloody hell Temple Mills = Knights Templar, crazy i love the crusades never knew it was so close to home.
I really like your videos John. I’ve recently moved over to East Ham.
thanks Paul - hope you're settling into the area ok
Heathcote and Star should have a blue plaque that you wrote most of your book in there! Interesting video though. Our creeks around here all flow into the Potomac but are not covered by roads or buildings.
I had a mate who lived in Fillerbrook Rd. I remember back in the 90`s standing outside his house watching the fire brigade and the police removing "protesters" who had tied themselves in the tops of trees in order to disrupt the felling required for the new road system.
They also took a chunk of his back garden for the same reason,but he was well compensated.
The theory of not building over subterranean rivers makes perfect sense. Im a Building Surveyor and know from experience of the hazards of building on running water. It could be done with expensive piling so I guess not viable for housing, hence leaving them as roads. Oh and BTW Up the O's!
great info many thanks. Full house at the Orient this coming weekend
I've lived in and around this area my whole life and never knew about the river - I've heard it often, but I just always assumed it was sewage!
Good Afternoon John. What a wonderful & informative east London walk. I really enjoyed it thank you. I really like Russell Frost hooksmith press, l don't know why🤗😉💜
Thanks Kat - so glad you enjoyed it
@@JohnRogersWalks 😊
Lived in Waltham Forest all my life and never realised that I was walking over this history regularly! Great video, Thank you for sharing. How could I join in on the walks?
thanks Kyber - unfornately the programme is finished now but I'll most likely continue next year or even add some outside the borough in November and December
@@JohnRogersWalks Ah okay, no worries. I love these types of tours as it's a great way to preserve the History here.
@11:07 Did you get a tug from the cops, John? Filming in E11? Veeeery suspicious! BTW it's St John Ambulance, not "John's " Fascinating as usual.
No the Police just passed by, I only noticed that car when I was editing
On Chelmsford road John, the river runs along the next alley way, not the one you pointed out, I know because you're not allowed to build on that land due to the river passing through..at night, when all is silent, you hear nothing but a sound of a stream running, nonetheless, twas a great video.
many thanks for that info - I did a couple of takes in Chelmsford Road at different locations, so I wonder if my first guess was the one you mention
wicked tnx John.
Lived in Queens road. We all had cellars, and our friends who lived up the end used to get their cellar flooded out often. I always wondered as a child why ours didn’t flood. Now I know ! I’m getting so nostalgic for Leytonstone with your walks. Lived there from 1951 to 1975
Dear neighbour, great movie!
My old hometown ❤️
Just a thought John,I was watching Jules Guides on You Tube and he was saying that Serpentine was originally part of the Westbourne River which joins the Thames at Pimlico, have you walked the Westbourne River yet ??? All the best loving your new videos mate......cheers
I lived Leyspring Road and yes there was Ley Spring came culverted under house and it was mentioned by solicitor in 60s search.
And later lived in east ham stevenage Road near the Roding Pub and when someone requested a huge tree be removed and surveyor and arborist came to review and pointed out that the tree drew thousand of gallons out of the ground which was riverbed gravel and was very productive water cress beds cos river was very clean at this point and
If this tree was removed we would all suffer rising damp as our little terraced house from 1908 had only rudimentary damp course as cheep jerry built houses when built.
So tree was not removed fortunately.
Excellent film John. I'm living vicariously from the other side of the planet ..I've sent an email off to Hooksmith to procure a set of the maps.
Regards, Boyd
thanks Boyd - hope you manage to procure a set of maps - Russell's actually a Kiwi
Great channel John..!! Can I ask what video equipment you are using and also what editing software you are using to create your films? Thanks, Ross.
Thanks Ross. I used a Panasonic GX80 and edit with Premiere Pro
Biggest bronze haul found in Havering. Exhibition at Museum of London Docklands next April.
Fantastic- thanks Georgina
@@JohnRogersWalks Morning. Ok.
Yes. And the great great great nephew of Bonaparte got married in Paris. Works and lives in London.
I remember reading how water from what is now wanstead flats made its way to wanstead park and works but the flows
Have you visted the little round stone edged pond behind snaresbrook court ?
The Birch Well? Yes that's a mysterious little pool - it's in a video from earlier in the year (Spring in Epping Forest)
Theydons TV . A video just popped up Leyronstone in the 30's. On my HOME you tube channel
When I was younger I accidentally ended up on the lowest floor of Leytonstone Library and remember seeing a stream flowing there. Are you aware of this and does this link to the Fillebrook? If you go into the basement of the library im sure you'll find it. That building has so many rooms above also.
Cheers John
Stupid question, but i suppose it will all be devoid of fish and such like?
Painting & Drawing that’s an intriguing one - I don’t know how fish get on underground
Thank you!
My pleasure John
Clap clap. And there was one about Leyronstone in the 60's. Very short.
Yes
So sad that so much has been lost ....fields, streams, open countryside.. when will it end?
When the people themselves are replaced.
(Then the folk memory is conveniently gone)
hi Jhon.. a fan from the philippines
Brilliant Zieff - thanks for watching from so far away (but so close)
Following you on Google maps like I always do, I see at the end of the walk, the brook ends up in the water works, but on the opposite (north western) side of the water works is that where the Dagenham Brook starts?
I think Steve that they join somewhere underground where that bit of rough ground is on the roundabout - you can see it at the start of the Dagenham Brook video
I used to live in Fillebrook Ave in Enfield.
Any link?
That’s interesting I’ll have to investigate
Love you John Rogers
Thanks Kelly
brilliant
Subbed
It would be nice - for a change - to hear "and this is where a road was demolished up to make way for houses"... rather than the other way round..
you may need dowsing rods, m8_
I've resisted the rods for many years now Johnny
@@JohnRogersWalks earlier last month we had a new water meter installed, the chap used a long metal tube with a listening device attached to the top so he could find the water pipe buried in the driveway, I had a listen as well, you could hear the water running clearly after you turned the outside tap on, I was well impressed_
i lived there 8 yrs ago moved due to gang violence on cathall estate
How tragic, and perhaps foolish, was this destruction of a major world artists center! And how powerless artists/and the rest of us seem to be against someone's economic progress! (My mother did warn me not to go into the arts.)
What demolishment do you see is next for London's nearest future?
I've sent an email to your Yahoo email John
Hi John - I’ve replied in full to your email. The directions in the video description have been amended now to make them clearer